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Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Pharmacology

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Understanding the interactions between molecules—that's chemistry. And understanding the chemistry that occurs in living organisms—that's biochemistry. Understanding how medicines work in the body and finding ways to make them to work better—that's pharmacology. Studies in these areas focus on questions like:

How do enzymes generate cellular energy and facilitate chemical reactions?

How are medicines processed inside the body?

What roles do natural substances like fats and sugars play in our bodies?

How does a person's genetic makeup influence a drug's effectiveness?

How can we use chemistry to design new medicines?

Can we find new uses for existing medicines?

Follow the links below to learn more about chemistry, biochemistry, and pharmacology, including recent developments, and read profiles of researchers working in these fields.

Pharmacogenomics, a component of precision medicine, is focused on how genes affect individual responses to medications. Learn more about this field and how it could help doctors pick the right treatment option for each patient.

Doctors have called general anesthetics a “modern mystery” because they didn’t know exactly how the drugs produced the different states of general anesthesia, such as unconsciousness and immobility. Find out why anesthetics have been challenging to study and what scientists are learning about them.